ETS voted down will lead to election

The Prime Minister will again try to have the emissions trading scheme passed in the Senate next month after the Federal Opposition proposed to delay the vote.

The Federal Opposition has proposed to kill off the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme bill, wanting the vote delayed until after the UN’s Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change in December.

Leader Malcolm Turnbull says Australia should at least wait until the US Congress have passed their version of an emissions trading scheme.

Independent Senator Nick Xenophon says Australia with its different economy and industries doesn’t need to wait for the US, but the business industry says Australia would do well to be guided by the country with the world’s largest economy.

General manager of policy at the Queensland Chamber of Commerce and Industry Nick Behrens says though the federal government has recognised the need for the ETS to begin in 2011, the chamber’s stance has not changed.

“Australia should not adopt a carbon pollution reduction scheme until such time as those countries with a similar industrial profile as ours embrace their own responsibilities and implement emissions trading schemes,” Behrens says.

He says if Australia moves ahead of global schemes, the country’s exporters and importers will be disadvantaged.

“But given that unemployment rates are now increasing dramatically, given that business and consumer confidence are at all time lows, now is not the time to be imposing additional significant costs on businesses at all.”

Greens Senator Christine Milne says Australia’s target as it stands will hinder carbon trading globally.

“It drags down the possibility of an ambitious global agreement in Copenhagen.

“Because the target is so conditional, everybody knows it will never be triggered,” Milne says.

But Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is eager to put the bill to the Senate’s vote again in June.

If the bill fails twice, it could trigger a double dissolution election.

Christine Milne says the Greens are happy to fight an election on climate change because they know the community sees the party as a genuine voice for real action.

The Greens want the bill scrapped completely, arguing it doesn’t go far enough.

National Party Senators risk losing a seat in the Senate if they vote against the scheme.

The party have vowed to vote against the bill in its current form because of the negative financial impact it will have on regional areas and the farming and mining industries.

16,000 dead received $900 bonus

And the Opposition is maintaining its pressure on the government over its stimulus payments.

Malcolm Turnbull has accused the government of “reckless” spending after it was found $40 million in stimulus payments went to expats and dead Australians.

The Australian Tax Office has admitted $14 million went to 16,000 dead people and $25 million has been sent to about 25,000 people living overseas.

$11 million was also spent on marketing the cash injection.

Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner has rejected suggestions the payments were wasted.